Put Liverpool on the map by electing the UK's first Green mayor

In the latest manifesto for the
Guardian Northerner from candidates in Liverpool's mayoral election,
Councillor John Coyne opens the case for the Greens

Greener, cleaner. Party bikes at an election in Witney. Liverpool's Green candidate for elected mayor, Councillor John Coyne, calls for better transport to help bring more jobs.Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

Coun John Coyne

Tuesday 10 April 2012 02.35 EDT
First published on Tuesday 10 April 2012 02.35 EDT

So what could a Green Mayor do for our city? It would put Liverpool on the world stage as a green city with Britain's first Green mayor. We could become a world leader in renewable energy research and development, retrofit houses with better insulation and become Europe's leading city in the huge effort we need to put in to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. Simply put, where better for the exciting and job intensive green industries of Britain to set up and thrive, than in a city with Britain's first Green Mayor.

As a Green Mayor, I would bring balance to a political system in Liverpool that will otherwise appear to all intent and purposes, a one party state. I think voters in our city do want a vision of something different. We have had Labour MPs for as long as they can remember. We've got a Labour council now, had a Liberal Democrat council for 12 years before that, and Labour before that back to the 1980s. So why have our leaders failed to address the key problems that trouble our city?

Employment is a huge issue. Even before the recession, we still had a very high number of people out of work. We have some difficult transport problems, with unreliable and inconsistent public transport, that is increasingly becoming unaffordable for those struggling on the lowest incomes. I want our green city to be a welcoming, high-quality urban environment that we are proud to share.

Every year in our city, there are fatalities on our roads. I want slower traffic, so even if accidents do happen, pedestrians and cyclists don't have to pay with their lives. I also want to see new ways of using our cars, through car sharing and car clubs that reduce the total amount of traffic in our city. This means better air quality and more efficient travel for everyone.

The National Wildflower Centre is only five miles from Liverpool city centre. Photograph: Alamy

Finally, I'd like to end on an optimistic note. The people of our city will have their usual vote in the local elections for their councillor, but for the mayoral election can vote for their 1st preference and then their 2nd preference. We've never been offered this system of voting in Liverpool before. To win this election, a Mayoral candidate will need to be able to attract both preferences.

At our party conference in Liverpool in February, our party leader Caroline Lucas MP joked that Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, would be able to attract more 2nd preference votes than a coalition party. Liverpool's people can make history if they instead use their 1st preference vote for a Green Mayor. I'm ready and willing to rise to that challenge.

You can read the other candidates' manifestos and more news from Liverpool and its mayoral election here.